Subminute fat-water-separated dual-echo automated spine survey iterative scan technique

We developed and tested an automated sub-minute 3D dual-echo MR imaging technique producing fat-water color-encoded labeled images of the entire spine. Twenty-one subjects were scanned with the 2-point Dixon technique utilizing 2 contiguous 21-22 second breath-hold sagittal acquisitions. Fourteen alternating subject scan sessions were achieved in 58 minutes. In all cases, fat-water separation was homogenous over the 70 cm FOV; in 2 lower stations fat/water assignments were reversed. Rapid automated fat-water decomposition spine screening is a promising technique.